A/N: I...did not anticipate taking almost 5 years to update this, but like with Not Barney, life happened and I want to continue what I started so long ago. Thank you all for the kind words and I hope this chapter can get the ball running!

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Louis was pretty sure that if anyone else saw the emails he was getting, they'd call him insane. Both Marie Antoinette and this other 8LA guy had information that no one other than people from deep within Proserpine or the Army could have and the gall to release it to him. Maybe they knew that he was in contact with the Original Horsemen, maybe these were some sort of Cicada 3301 sort of thing, fishing out who could serve their purposes best. At first, Louis thought the messages were pranks, someone taking advantage of the situation and letting loose some dumb virus.

But then he saw the patterns, and the passages that came along with each encrypted message: they were clues. It was how they figured out the matters in New York and the first real lead to the Proserpine Group's experiments in the City. Coach had been hesitant to trust the informants, they were too accurate in their intel. "Could be McKinley for all we know," he mentioned as soon as the four arrived to his office.

"Doesn't matter if it's the pope," Nick shot back, "They want something, we want something. We're helping each other out. Where is this meeting supposed to be, Louis?"

"Mississippi, and I'm guessing the shoreline, I'm pinpointing the last ping the message sent out," Louis quickly explained, "I'm still figuring out why the poem stanza..."

Before anyone could interject, Coach answered the implicit question, "It's the Raven from Edgar Allan Poe, I'm guess this informant of yours wants to meet us at night."

"How did you-"

"Boy, I was a substitute teacher for a lot of classes, you pick up shit on the job. Y'all have to go, don'tcha?"

Rochelle was quick to say yes, to much of her friends' surprise. She looked stronger, as if the location gave her strength to overcome the loss she had just experienced. She made sure that every breath she took, she would take it to make things right, and maybe get some catharsis while she was at it. It reminded Ellis of how Nick was when it came to Selene: unrelenting pursuit of justice from the unlikeliest of places.

"You sure?"

"Sure as fuck," she stated as she turned to Louis, "I can't promise you I won't hold back the next time I run into Zoey, are you and Francis all right with that?" she wasn't going to wait for the answer but would honor it regardless.

The notoriously loud-mouthed biker had remained silent against the door frame, letting the computer technician have the spotlight for once. Losing Zoey was a low blow to their group's morale, and Francis couldn't help feel some guilt over this. It's only when Rochelle spoke that he had to ask, "What do you mean 'next time'?"

Nick wanted to interject but Ellis shook his head to stop him: this wasn't their story now and only War could let them in. Ro took a deep breath and lifted her shirt to show the still healing wounds to her mangled abdomen, to both Philly survivors horrors. "Good enough answer for you?"

"...Fuck, that can't-" but Francis couldn't tell Rochelle that what she experienced was wrong just because it had been his companion. He didn't need to be a clairvoyant to guess why she was targeted, and inside, he wanted Rochelle to be honest and tell him. But she had suffered enough, they've all suffered enough. He took one more glance and responded, "Just bring her alive. Fuck her up if you have to, if it'll make her remember."

"I can try."

Knowing this was his chance, Louis turned around to the message and realized, "Don't go to Mississippi just yet. There's a bar in this city called The Raven, right Nick?"

Nick blinked in surprise, and pointed at himself, as if he were somehow included in the discussion. "Yeah, it's on the West Outlook, you don't think our informant's there?" No way someone was that stupid or that cocky, no goddamn way.

"They wouldn't have put in the passage if it wasn't important...We have to run every possibility and you know it," Coach asserted, giving Louis a needed boost in credibility. The chance to meet one of their benefactors was too tempting, and even Ellis had to take the shot to go in. "I'll stay back to take care of Miss Cordy an' Florence, an' if shit hits the fan…"

"Waste no time an' get rid o' the target before they get a chance to notify CEDA, we know," Ellis sighed as he hoped this lead didn't end up in bloodshed.

~0~

"The Vestia prototypes have been doing well I hope?" Leon asked as he and Nathan Cole did their rounds. The military man hated this, he hated doing this walkabout just so Samael could rub in his successes a little longer. But there was no denying it: these new trials were giving way to something unheard of: enhanced soldiers without the need of prolonged exposure to the Rhamnusia strain. The Legion project had, in this stage, finally provided the enhancement properties. But it was too soon to tell, especially with the vaccine trials still ongoing for the bigger issue: the infection.

"They're your mercenaries, you tell me," Cole retorted, while reminded Samael, "Don't think for a second I didn't forget about the Chimeras. Are you trying to recreate Lilith again with already existing children?"

"Goodness no, Sergeant," the businessman feigned concern, "these young adults were found to be exceptionally receptive to the gB435 virus, and they agreed to be studied. Lilith was an unfortunate prototype that simply failed to live up to her expectations." Nathan was sure he saw a twitch in Samael's eye as he lied through his teeth. Lilith had been an ungodly creature but from the way Leon treated her, she might as well been family. Could the man have a heart? Or something akin to self-preservation?

"I do have to ask: have your immunity test results come back?" Leon asked, "I must know if my experiments pose any threat to your safety." An innocent question after all.

Cole arched an eyebrow, no problems with that logic, but he was clearly hesitant to answer, "...Came back immune...why?"

"Vestias are still under study of course, bodily fluids and all. I want to make sure you don't get exposed to anything unfortunate," the businessman stated simply, having known the answer from McKinley's report. He just wanted to see what he could ask Cole during these walks. "St. Gabriel and St. Uriel should be arriving soon with their assignments...please don't hesitate to call me about the Vestia prototypes' progress."